Alumna Tyler Converse on The Consortium’s experienced hire process

5Jul

It’s been about 50 days since Tyler Converse, a Consortium alumna from the University of Rochester, began her new job with CVS Health, a Consortium corporate partner. That job was the first to come about through The Consortium’s “experienced hire initiative,” which pairs more experienced members of the community with opportunities among our corporate partners who are seeking diverse talent for those roles.

The initiative continues to show momentum with two additional announcements: Northwestern Mutual has hired Vasco Bridges, a 2010 graduate of the Michigan Ross School of Business, who starts Monday as a director in the company’s principal distribution performance group. Meanwhile, Wells Fargo has also hired an experienced Consortium alum for mid-level positions.

We wanted to share more about what Tyler told us when the opportunity came about and she had accepted the new position at CVS Health, where she started May 15 as an internal management consultant in the product innovation team. She provided these answers before she began her new position.

What role/job function did you leave for this new position?

I have been an independent management consultant since April 2016. During this time, I consulted on a wide variety of strategic initiatives and planning for a diverse client base comprised mostly of start-ups and small business owners. Prior to that I was in brand management. During my time as an associate at Wells Enterprises, I worked predominately on the Bomb Pop and Blue Ribbon Classics by Blue Bunny brands.

Why do you consider this career move so transformative?

I spent the first, pre-MBA, leg of my career in wealth management. Like many experienced professionals that make the decision to pursue a full-time MBA, I knew that I would be a career switcher, as I would not be returning to investment management in my post-MBA career. My goal career target was a strategy.

I completed a great MBA internship with the corporate strategy and business development group at Constellation Brands, Inc. Following that experience, I decided that before I made the full transition to a traditional strategy role, I wanted to take the non-traditional approach and pursue a post-MBA role in brand management in order to round out my experiential experience and gain a more in-depth understanding of product commercialization, consumer behavior/decision-making and their respective impacts on innovation, go-to-market and growth strategies.

Having had the opportunity to drive and influence strategy within my role at Wells, I very quickly realized, during my passive job search, that my experience was unique and unlikely to be replicated within brand management at another CPG company. The roles available with management consulting firms presented their own set of challenges and were just not a great fit. There just weren’t any suitable strategy roles on the market.

Some people are born with a predilection for entrepreneurship. I, myself, have never found it appealing, as I just want to do the work. But, after a few months of searching with no luck in finding the type of role I was looking for, I shifted my focus fully to continuing to build my client base.

I was quite literally plowing through my own startup checklist of legal prerequisites, when Brian (Wesley) brought this position to my attention. I was certain following my first interview that I was discussing a role that was ideally suited for me. By the time the offer was made, I knew that this was my dream role and that the team that I would be joining was comprised of a phenomenal group of people.

Even with all of the aforementioned taken into account, there is still something that stands behind the reason why I feel that this career move is so transformative. There are two, non-negotiable, prerequisites in satisfying my definition of professional success: The first is being of service and value to the organization that I work for. The second is that this work effect positive change beyond simply increasing profit-margins.

CVS Health has consistently kept to their mission of helping people on their path to better health, by their implementation of services and continued efforts to promote innovation, efficiencies and improvements in their current offerings. And, like me, they are community, customer and service-centric. I’d say that is a great match!

In what ways was The Consortium/Brian helpful in pairing you with this opportunity?

When you consider the high opportunity cost — both tangible and intangible — of attending business school full-time and completing an MBA, it should come as no surprise that following that sacrifice, most of us refuse to settle for anything less than our target career goals. I am no exception.

I was very open about my career objectives with Brian, while not having necessarily gone into detail about my motivations. He’d placed me in the “picky” candidate category. We are all very fortunate that Brian is very good at reading between the lines.

Brian was helpful in all ways in pairing me with this opportunity. Given all of the CGSM corporate partnerships and the plethora of opportunities available for consideration by alums, this was the only position where he made it his personal mission to bring to my attention. He believed that it was a great match and he was absolutely correct!

Is there anything else you think is important to convey?

If I have not done so already, I would like to highlight the invaluable relationship that The Consortium continues to maintain with its alum and their post-MBA professional development.

Read more about The Consortium’s experienced hire initiative for our alumni, and how to get in touch with Brian to learn more and participate.

After Hurricane Harvey, Rice University and the Houston community were knocked down, but not out! Check out Monday's webinar with Jones Graduate School of Business Dean Peter Rodriguez. They're The Consortium's newest member school. Details here. ... See MoreSee Less

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